Monday March 05, 2001
Government to steer young into maths, science
05.03.2001 - By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK

Education reporter Students will be steered away from subjects such as
accounting and law as the Government tries to increase the number of science
and maths graduates. Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey says that
in 1999, almost 30 per cent of tertiary students were enrolled in business,
commercial and legal courses, causing an oversupply of graduates.

As part of an overhaul of tertiary education to be announced this week,
the Government plans to take a role in determining the number of graduates
across a range of courses. Mr Maharey said the country's economic development
was at risk because at present it relied on the choices of tertiary students.
He wanted more graduates in growth industries. "We think we need to be
able to steer the system more ... We can't guarantee our own economic
development off our tertiary system at present," he said.

On Wednesday, the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (Teac) will
release a report recommending a cap on the number of courses available
to students in areas where graduate numbers vastly exceed local industry
demand. Auckland District Law Society executive director Margaret Wong
said it would not do any harm to encourage students to look at courses
other than law. Law graduates had problems getting jobs because of the
oversupply. But the chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants,
Diana Pryde, pointed to a domestic shortage of accountancy graduates.
"There might be a quite a lot of graduates, but too many of them are going
offshore. The ones who stay can have their pick of jobs."

The Teac report, the second of four to be released by the end of the
year, will advise the Government how to ensure the sector meets the needs
of a knowledge economy. The report is expected to recommend that funding
is withdrawn from some tertiary education providers to cut course duplication.

Over the past decade, competition between tertiary institutions has flourished
because of the way the Ministry of Education funds them. State funding
is determined by the number of students wanting to enrol in a course.
This has led to a proliferation of providers, duplication of courses and
satellite campuses. Government spending has been spread more thinly, compromising
the quality of education and the financial stability of many institutions,
including universities and polytechnics. Mr Maharey said one of the Government's
key aims was to eliminate destructive competition between institutions.

To address the problem, the report is also expected to recommend that
a new organisation be established, taking on a funding distribution role
and acting as an adviser to the Government and institutions. It is understood
that education providers will be asked to submit profiles outlining what
they want to teach and specialise in. The new organisation will distribute
funding based on those profiles.

Mr Maharey said less funding would go to private providers because the
Government wanted to build on the $3.6 billion worth of assets in the
public tertiary sector. He said it was unlikely that any big institutions
would close as a result of the Teac report. However, there would be mergers
and amalgamations. Tertiary institutions and lobby groups largely support
the Government's effort to remove destructive competition from the sector,
but most are nervous about how funding will be distributed. "We're continually
optimistic but suitably nervous," said the president of the Association
of Polytechnics, Jim Doyle. The executive director of the Association
of University Staff, Rob Crozier, said he welcomed any moves to improve
education.

Main points expected from the commission:
* More mergers and collaboration between the country's tertiary education
providers.
* Smoother cross-crediting of courses between tertiary institutions.
* More guidance and career counselling offered to the country's 250,000
tertiary students.
* Less Government funding dispensed to the country's 845 private tertiary
education providers.
* A significant change in the way tertiary institutions are funded by
the Government.
* Less geographical duplication of courses.
* Less competition between institutions for students.
* A new organisation set up to administer funding and take on an advisory
role between the Government and tertiary institutions.